Sir Patrick Stewart's close bond with Sir Ian McKellen

SIR Patrick Stewart has revealed it was his wife's idea for Sir Ian McKellen to marry them.

The 73-year-old actor married singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell, 35, in an intimate outdoor ceremony beside Lake Tahoe in California in September, and his bride convinced him to ask his best pal to officiate their wedding.

In a joint interview with Sir Ian for CBS News, Sir Patrick said: "It was my wife's idea. That word still sits a little uncomfortably on my lips."

The actors have been close friends since meeting in the 1970s in the Royal Shakespeare Company in London and have worked together several times including on the 'X-Men' movies but insisted they aren't rivals in real life.

Sir Ian said: "We are the same actor, really. We've had the same career, really. So we're peers. We're equals. We're not rivals."

The actor once cried at the idea of saying goodbye to his best pal after they completed starring in a production of 'Waiting for Godot' in London in 2009.

Sir Patrick said: "The curtain came down on our last performance, and he went into the wings and sat on some stone steps and sobbed, heartbroken that it was over."

The 'Lord of the Rings' star, 74, then admitted: "Yes, I was heartbroken. And then we were going to say goodbye to each other. You were going off to do other things and I just felt I would never be as happy again."